Christmas in July - trees

Christmas in July for Christmas Card Club Challenge - Trees

Stampin' Up! will launch its winter catalogue in September so with just a few sets in the catalogue this challenge from Christine has not been as easy as you would initially think with a simple Christmas theme of  'Trees'.  However where there's a will there's a tree!  

I've made a very simple card using the new Heirloom frames dies and embossing folders.  I added some Versamark ink to the embossing folder before adding my die cut frame to the folder.  Once dry embossed I added silver embossing powder to the frame for heating.  It has a enhanced the dry embossed texture, not perfectly but just enough to highlight the detail of the frame.  Using the middle die cut section of the frame I've added a silver heat embossed tree from the Rooted in Nature set, a Stampin' Up! favourite, and a gold heat embossed sentiment from Itty Bitty Greetings.  I've layered the image and frame onto a matt layered dry embossed with the Subtle 3D folder which does exactly as its name suggests - adds a subtle texture.  

A trio of rhinestones give a little more sparkle for a finishing touch.   

For beginner stampers you could cut a frame using a trimmer and stamp a pattern onto it, or indeed use a ruler and pen to create a frame directly on your card or then cut out with paper snips. 

It's been a very busy fortnight for us getting Charlie ready for a very important interview which he did really well in and also getting kit sorted for his trip to South Africa to research elephant migration patterns, bird counts and also some open water diving.  Our first message from him said "here safe, bags arrived too, at camp probs wont talk much!'   I guess I should be pleased to know he is there safely.  Teenage boys hey......

There's more inspiration for Christmas card making on my fellow Christmas Card Club ladies blogs so do take a look as July is traditionally a good month for early prep for the festive season and getting your handmade cards made.  

Thanks for popping by. 

Zoe x

SHOP NOW

Please contact me for more details zoetant@live.co.uk 

or check out the Join Stampin' Up! button at the top of this page.

My Beautiful Girl with Needlepoint Nook Suite

I was invited some weeks back to be a presenter at the Stampin' Up! UK Onstage event at The Vox, in Birmingham.  I was given a suite of products from the Spring 2019 catalogue to share with over 500 UK demonstrators and a brief about other information to give including my tips for demonstrators for their business and using this suite.

Part of my presentation was to share a project that showed why I loved the Needlepoint Nook Suite of products and I decided that the best way was to share a scrapbook page or two of my amazing children.  This is the page I did for Olivia and you can see the page I created for Charlie on my #onstage2018 30th Stampin' Up! birthday post.

You can see in the bottom right hand corner the stitched image underlying the stamped and die cut flowers and this is a new exciting feature of the new Needlepoint Elements framelits dies.  It adds a stitched pattern.  You need to use it on the Bigshot and so to make this possible I cut the base of my page in half and then used tear and tape to adhere the pieces together on the back  leaving the backing tape in place.  On the front I covered the join with the designer series paper from the suite also called Needlepoint Nook just like the suite.

I've used the Stampin' Up! Celebrate You dies to add part of my journalling, the Make A Difference alphabet stamp set for the 'are' which is embossed with copper powder and also the Friendly Expressions set from the Stampin' Up! annual catalogue for the 'you make me proud'.  You might notice the pretty label punch on which this sentiment is stamped and adhered to has a stitched edge and this is another die in the suite which you can use to add a stitched border to the punched shape or to add a stitched frame on your project.

The Needle and Thread stamp set is a new photopolymer DistINKtive set that means that the actual strands of the embroidery are visible when stamped.  The set was designed by Stampin' Up! who teamed up with an expert embroiderer. Once the design was embroidered it was photographed and the image was recoloured to the Stampin' Up! colours and printed for the DSP.

I hope you like it.  It will be available to order from 3 January 2019.

I'll be sharing more of my projects using it very soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Zoe x

#Onstage2018 - Stampin' Up! 30th Birthday Celebrations for Demonstrators

As this posts I will have just sat back in my place having shared these lovely new products coming out in the new year with approximately 560 Stampin' Up! UK demonstrators at our twice yearly conference. Today is a special conference celebrating Stampin' Up! 's 30th birthday and I'm so excited to be part of the presentation team.  I had a suite of products to play with and share some of my top tips for demonstrators to help you my lovely readers get the most from your crafting.  The suite is called Needlepoint Nook and although at first sight is very girly and fabulous for those of you who love embroidery I also wanted to share that it can be linked with other products to produce a perfectly masculine project too. I set a challenge in my presentation which in part was to step outside of your comfort zone and so felt it only fair for me to do the same.  I love scrapbooking, but am always a little bit overwhelmed by the idea of it and it takes me time to actually do it, but when I do I love it.  I also was tasked with sharing a 'why I love this product suite' so what better way to share it than to share pages feature the loves of my life my kids!!  This is the page I made for my son Charlie.  It's a shot from our cabin balcony on the Alaska cruise which was this years Stampin' Up! incentive trip.  I used papers, colours, buttons and stamps from the suite which also coordinates with  the Pretty Label Punch up on the top right banner embellishment.

I used other embellishments like the mini wooden stars and trees that have been a popular part of the Festive Farmhouse Elements from the current winter catalogue, that sadly may have sold out by the time this posts. I coloured them with Stampin' Blends and adhered easily with tombow wet multipurpose glue.  If you put a blob on a silicone mat and then use a cocktail stick to add small amounts you can avoid a splurge when you add the button or laser wood cuts.

As the stamp set is based on embroidery/sewing I used my sewing machine to add some detail to my navy matt layer.  I printed the journaling and used a sponge to add some connecting distressing or smudging for want of a better word.

The sunglasses are stamped from the Stampin Up set Pocketful of Sunshine and die cut with the Pocket Framelits.  I coloured the lenses in with a black stampin blend and then once thoroughly dry added a very thin coat of our fine tip glue to give the shine of glass.



If you like what you see then ask your family to contact me to arrange gift vouchers for you this Christmas to spend with me in the New Year.  Make sure you get the gift you want this Christmas.  

Thanks for checking in and send me good wishes that I got off the stage OK with my crutches. I'll be back with more of my projects very soon.

Hugs Zoe x

Snow is Glistening very popular

It looks like lots of you are liking the Snowflake Showcase that Stampin' Up! has launched for this month of November.  The dies in particular are flying out of the warehouse as has the white velveteen paper which is at the moment SOLD OUT. There is a slight chance that more stock maybe available but I can't confirm this. I used the Snow is Glistening stamp set and the Snowfall dies to create the card above. It's really simple.  I think the black and white with just a touch of red works really well and my sentiment is heat embossed in silver.  You'll see there are two snowflakes that are embossed using our embossing mats with the dies and we're learning about that at my card club next week. If you're in Lincolnshire and would like to join us please do contact me.  

Alternatively I'm offering a class by post.  That means you can buy the stamps and dies and will receive a complimentary class tutorial in the post with pictures to help you and the materials to make 5 of these cards.  Don't forget if you don't have the embossing mats you'll need to add those to your order.  You can order all these products from my online shop.  

SHOP NOW HERE

149692 £36

149742 £20

Big Shot Embossing Mats 146327 £14

Any questions please just email me at zoetant@live.co.uk

Keep warm and dry for the next few days as the weather is not too friendly in the UK. 

Hugs Zoe x

Read more about the Stampin' Up! Snowflake Showcase  

Christmas Card Club - Polar Bears of Teddy Bears

Valery chose Polar Bears or Teddy Bears for our Christmas Card Club Challenge this time. I was a bit stumped at first, but then remembered that Stampin' Up! set Cookie Cutter Christmas has a very cute bear and to be honest I had not used it before being drawn to the gingerbread man, Santa and Rudolph stamps instead.  However he's turned out to be perfect and I've teamed him up with some stickers from the Stampin Memories and More Santa's Workshop card pack, to give him a hat and cane. Once again the new Buffalo Check background stamp looks different in another colour namely Poppy Parade stamped onto card of the same name.

A handful of red rhinestones that I'm really finding useful for Christmas projects and a silver foil Happy stuck down by using the double sided adhesive sheets on the back of the foil card before die cutting it.  This helps you to cut a piece just the right size for the die.  The Christmas was stamped and heat embossed with white powder and die cut.

Now I started this challenge with a great plan to create a spinner card with the bear on a bauble and it got a little messy and complicated, but slowly it turned around and I'm happy to share although it isn't quite as elegant as I had planned, but then it is a spinner card with a teddy.

Using the Detailed Baubles Thinlits Dies I created an aperture for the spinner to fit inside and then I used a layering circle to cut one slightly smaller than the aperture.  I actually cut 2 in Pool Party and then stamped with the small Poinsettia flower from Dashing Deer and heat embossed a patterned in white.  I stamped and punched out the teddy from the Cookie Cutter set.  I added a layer of fine tip glue to the baubles and waited for it to dry as I was trying to create a sheen across the baubles. I added too much glue and so it was taking too long to dry.  I decided to add a teddy to each circle and push them down into the glue and then brushed of much of the glue so now instead of having a sheen they look more like papier mache which is fine just not what was planned.  I had to wipe off much of the glue so that the colour of the stamped bears didn't run.  It did a bit on the bow ties so to salvage I added another punched tie for each side.  Once done I left it to dry in the hope that all would not be lost.  It's turned out ok I guess in the end.  

 Now it was a little fiddly bringing it all together, but I used some silver cord from my stash and threaded it through the outer pretty border and by adding lots of double sided tape on each back of the bear circles I was able to secure it in the middle of the two circles.  I added pearls and a bow along with some more red rhinestones to enhance the bauble.

All's well that ends well and I think it would please a young child if not me! 

Remember the other ladies will have gorgeous creations to inspire you so please do visit their blogs via the Christmas Card Club button at the top of my blog, but just before you go here's a couple of pics of bears we saw in Canada on our trip this summer. 

Bears seen on our extended trip to Vancouver

I love bears

Happy Sunday all, hope you have a great week. I'm going to be busy visiting the hospital for my pre-op appointment with the hope that the scheduled operation the following week to fix my Achilles will go ahead.  Wish me luck.  

Hugs Zoe x

Challenges

Winterwonderland Challenge - use ribbon or twine

CHNC # 403 - Use gingham, check

Die cutting Divas - Any animal

Amazing You

Stampin' Up! knows that we all know someone who is amazing in our eyes so they've given us this fabulous stamp set called Amazing You and a coordinating set of dies.  The best part is that you can get the stamp set and dies FREE during Saleabration.  I've used many of the stamps in this set to create this pretty card along with one of the dies to add the 'amazing' .  The stamp set is a gift with purchase when you spend £45 in one single order or you can have the dies with a £90 spend as a free gift.  Of course spend more and you could get both the dies and stamps free, but worry not the dies will be available to buy later in the year.

I've stamped with rich razzleberry, old olive and melon mambo inks and added extra layers to the fussy cut flower and foliage.  A single gold 'jelly tot' as I call them but for ordering they are faceted gems adds a little wow to go with the a strip of the Painted with Love specialty paper makes this card pop and brings life to this white base.

Quick Tip
Did you know that Stampin' Up! also now carries Sizzix double sided adhesive sheets that can be used with intricate dies similar to the amazing die cut used in my card.  You can measure a piece of card big enough for your die. Cut a piece of the adhesive sheet the same size as the card stock and peel back on of the backing papers. Adhere the the card stock to the revealed sticky sheet.  Then making sure that you put the card stock uppermost before placing your die on to it and then cut with your Bigshot.  You'll then end up with effectively a sticker that when you are ready you can peel off the remaining backing paper to have perfect adhesive on your die cut and an easy mess free way to stick it to your project.

The sheets are on page 203 in the annual catalogue along with other adhesives and stampin dimensionals.  You can find these and all the other products used in my Stampin Up online shop

Your only problem will be choosing which   FREE gift to have.

More soon Zoe x